Peter Jackson Working On A Top Secret Film For Steven Spielberg

If their original plan had gone off without a hitch, The Adventures of Tintin would already be a complete trilogy by now. At the very least, the original timeline would have given us the first sequel to 2011's modest hit, with Peter Jackson in the director's chair. Well, we now have good and bad news for you patient Tintin fans. The good news is the second film is still alive and kicking, even after all this time waiting. The bad news is that there's at least one, top secret film in Jackson's future that's preventing it from happening at this moment.

The scoop comes from Time Out, via New Zealand's Stuff, as they recently had some words with Steven Spielberg about The BFG, as well as the director's partnership with the director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy for at least three Tintin films. The reasoning for the delay has been summed up thusly, by Spielberg himself, as he stated:

Peter [Jackson] was so busy with The Hobbit that it took him away from Tintin and he's doing another film for my company now. It's a secret nobody knows about. Then after that he'll do Tintin.

Putting aside the further mention of the still unfulfilled Tintin sequel, the fact that Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg are teaming up for another film is rather exciting. Even after the career missteps that were King Kong, The Lovely Bones, and to a certain extent The Hobbit trilogy, we still find ourselves curious as to what Jackson will do next with his career. Making that next move with Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment shingle has us excited for whatever that prospect may be, especially because it helps keep the fires burning on a project we've been anticipating for some time now.

Originally, the plan was for Steven Spielberg to direct The Adventures of Tintin, with Peter Jackson directing the second film in the proposed trilogy shortly after, and an unknown director taking the reins for the third and possibly final film. All throughout the process, Spielberg and Jackson would serve as producers on the project, as both were passionate fans of Herge's famous comic book. Of course, Jackson went off to direct his Hobbit trilogy, and Tintin fell by the way side. Thankfully, Steven Spielberg never forgot the plans the two had made, and if his word is anything to go by, it hopefully won't be too much longer before those plans are fulfilled.

All that remains is to see what Peter Jackson is directing as his oh-so secret project for Amblin Entertainment, and we'll have an idea on how much longer we'll have to wait. In the meantime, we have to wonder, if this is how long it takes Peter Jackson to fulfill his informal obligation to Tintin fans, how long is it going to take him to finally direct that episode of Doctor Who he's teased for so long? Thankfully, you won't have to wait as long for Steven Spielberg's next film, The BFG, as it hits theaters today.